Information processing method and information processing system

ABSTRACT

An information processing method performed using a computer includes: obtaining first vehicle information from a vehicle that is a monitoring target of a monitor, the first vehicle information indicating at least one of a running state and an external state of the vehicle; determining a monitoring priority level of the vehicle according to a degree of request for monitoring the vehicle by the monitor, the degree being based on the first vehicle information; generating presentation information for monitoring the vehicle, based on the monitoring priority level; and causing a presentation device to output the presentation information.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation application of PCT International Application No.PCT/JP2019/037776 filed on Sep. 26, 2019, designating the United Statesof America, which is based on and claims priority of Japanese PatentApplication No. 2018-189778 filed on Oct. 5, 2018 and Japanese PatentApplication No. 2019-098794 filed on May 27, 2019. The entiredisclosures of the above-identified applications, including thespecifications, drawings and claims are incorporated herein by referencein their entirety.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to an information processing method andan information processing system.

2. Description of the Related Art

There are remote operation systems in which operators at remotelocations indirectly operate driverless vehicles or vehicles capable ofautonomous running without being operated by drivers, using wirelesscommunication such as a wireless local area network (LAN) or a mobilephone line.

In such a remote operation system, sensing results obtained by observingthe surroundings of a vehicle using various sensors such as amillimeter-wave radar, a laser radar, and a camera mounted in thevehicle are transmitted from the vehicle (hereafter referred to as“operated vehicle”) to an operator via a communication means. Theoperator recognizes the state of the operated vehicle and the state ofthe surroundings of the operated vehicle based on the transmittedsensing results, determines how to control the operated vehicle, andexamines a method of controlling the vehicle. The operator thentransmits, to the operated vehicle, a control signal relating to runningof the vehicle, thus remotely controlling the operated vehicle.

For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No.2018-063615 (Patent Literature 1 (PTL 1)) discloses a method whereby,upon stop of running due to anomaly, whether the presence/absence of anobstacle at the stop position is recognizable is determined, and anoperator is authorized to perform remote operation only in the casewhere the presence/absence of an obstacle can be determined, thusreducing the remote operation load on the operator.

SUMMARY

With the conventional technique disclosed in PTL 1, prior to theoperation of the operated vehicle by the operator, the operated vehicleis monitored by the operator or a monitor, other than the operator, whodoes not perform the operation (hereafter the operator and the monitorare also collectively referred to as “monitor”). Given that when andwhere a dangerous situation such as an accident occurs are unknown, themonitor needs to monitor all scenes if possible, and thus is under aheavy monitoring load. It is therefore desirable to reduce themonitoring load on the monitor. PTL 1 discloses a method for reducingthe load on the operator who remotely operates the vehicle, but does notdisclose a method for reducing the monitoring load on the monitor whoremotely monitors the vehicle.

The present disclosure has an object of providing an informationprocessing method that can reduce a monitoring load on a monitor.

An information processing method according to an aspect of the presentdisclosure is an information processing method performed using acomputer, including: obtaining first vehicle information from a vehiclethat is a monitoring target of a monitor, the first vehicle informationindicating at leas one of a running state and an external state of thevehicle; determining a monitoring priority level of the vehicleaccording to a degree of request for monitoring the vehicle by themonitor, the degree being based on the first vehicle information;generating presentation information for monitoring the vehicle, based onthe monitoring priority level; and causing a presentation device tooutput the presentation information.

An information processing system according to an aspect of the presentdisclosure is an information processing system including: an obtainerthat obtains vehicle information from a vehicle that is a monitoringtarget of a monitor, the vehicle information indicating at least one ofa running state and an external state of the vehicle; a determiner thatdetermines a monitoring priority level of the vehicle according to adegree of request for monitoring the vehicle by the monitor, the degreebeing based on the vehicle information; and a presentation controllerthat generates presentation information for monitoring the vehicle basedon the monitoring priority level, and causes a presentation device tooutput the presentation information.

A program according to an aspect of the present disclosure causes acomputer to execute the foregoing information processing method.

These general and specific aspects may be implemented using a system, amethod, an integrated circuit, a computer program, or acomputer-readable recording medium such as CD-ROM, or any combination ofsystems, integrated circuits, computer programs, and recording media.

An information processing method according to the present disclosure canreduce a monitoring load on a monitor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

These and other objects, advantages and features of the disclosure willbecome apparent from the following description thereof taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings that illustrate a specificembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of a monitoringsystem according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an example of a monitoring room accordingto the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a functional structure of aserver device according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a first table stored in atravel DB according to the embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a second table stored inthe travel DB according to the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a first example ofpresentation information according to the embodiment;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a second example ofpresentation information according to the embodiment;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a third example ofpresentation information according to the embodiment;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a fourth example ofpresentation information according to the embodiment;

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a fifth example ofpresentation information according to the embodiment;

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a sixth example ofpresentation information according to the embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram illustrating a process by the monitoringsystem according to the embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a process by a recommender accordingto the embodiment;

FIG. 14A is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process by therecommender according to the embodiment in the case where at least partof vehicle information of a vehicle cannot be obtained;

FIG. 14B is a flowchart illustrating another example of a process by therecommender according to the embodiment in the case where at least partof vehicle information of a vehicle cannot be obtained;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a process by a monitoring controlleraccording to the embodiment; and

FIG. 16 is a sequence diagram illustrating a process by a monitoringsystem according to a variation of the embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT

An information processing method according to an aspect of the presentdisclosure is an information processing method performed using acomputer, including: obtaining first vehicle information from a vehiclethat is a monitoring target of a monitor, the first vehicle informationindicating at least one of a running state and an external state of thevehicle; determining a monitoring priority level of the vehicleaccording to a degree of request for monitoring the vehicle by themonitor, the degree being based on the first vehicle information;generating presentation information for monitoring the vehicle, based onthe monitoring priority level; and causing a presentation device tooutput the presentation information.

Thus, a monitor can determine whether the vehicle is requested to bemonitored, by checking the presentation information output by thepresentation device. That is, the monitor can determine whether thevehicle is requested to be monitored, without constantly monitoring thevehicle and without analyzing the situation of the vehicle in detail.The running state or external state of the vehicle influences saferunning of the vehicle. As a result of the presentation informationbeing presented based on the monitoring priority level according to thedegree of request for monitoring the running state or the externalstate, the monitor can consult the presentation information formonitoring. Thus, the information processing method according to anaspect of the present disclosure can reduce the monitoring load on themonitor. Specifically, the information processing method according to anaspect of the present disclosure can reduce the load of monitoring allimages and the load of determining the request for monitoring thevehicle.

The information processing method may further include: determining thedegree for the vehicle based on the first vehicle information, whereinthe determining of the monitoring priority level includes determiningthe monitoring priority level of the vehicle according to the degreedetermined.

Thus, since the first vehicle information is obtained in a device thatexecutes the information processing method according to an aspect of thepresent disclosure, as a result of the device determining the degree,the process of determining the monitoring priority level can beintegrated to improve processing efficiency.

The determining of the monitoring priority level may include determiningthe monitoring priority level based on the degree and a weight thatcorrespond to each of a plurality of items of situation information, theplurality of items of situation information each indicating a situationof the vehicle based on the first vehicle information.

Thus, the presentation information is generated based on the weightcorresponding to each of the plurality of items of situationinformation. For example, in the case where the weight is a valuecorresponding to risk such as an accident, the presentation informationis information that takes into account risk. That is, by checking thepresentation information that takes into account risk, the monitor candetermine the monitoring target vehicle according to the degree of risk.The monitoring load on the monitor can thus be further reduced.

The plurality of items of situation information may include firstsituation information and second situation information different fromthe first situation information, and the information processing methodmay include: determining a weight corresponding to the first situationinformation, according to at least one of the second situationinformation and the first vehicle information.

Thus, the weight of the first situation information can be changedaccording to other information (at least one of the second situationinformation and the first vehicle information). Since the situation ofthe vehicle and the surroundings of the vehicle changes with time, byappropriately determining the weight of the first situation informationaccording to the current situation, the presentation information can bemade to correspond to the current situation of the vehicle and thesurroundings of the vehicle. Hence, the accuracy of determination by themonitor can be improved while reducing the monitoring load on themonitor.

The presentation information may include information indicating acontribution of at least one of the plurality of items of situationinformation to determination of the monitoring priority level.

Thus, by presenting the contribution to the monitor, the reason fordetermining specific monitoring work for the vehicle can be informed tothe monitor. For example, by knowing that the contribution of “suddenstart” is high from the presentation information, the monitor candetermine that monitoring is requested to be performed with focus on anyobstacle ahead in the traveling direction of the vehicle, vehicle speed,and the like. Consequently, the monitor can promptly recognize specificmonitoring work, and therefore can perform accurate and promptmonitoring with reduced monitoring load.

The information processing method may further include: determining thedegree based on position information of the vehicle included in thefirst vehicle information and a travel plan including a moving route ofthe vehicle.

Thus, the position information and travel plan of the vehicle arefurther used to generate the presentation information. That is, themonitor can know whether monitoring is requested, without analyzing thegap between the travel situation and the travel plan from the currentposition of the vehicle. The monitoring load on the monitor cantherefore be reduced in terms of travel management, too.

The obtaining may include obtaining the first vehicle information fromeach of a plurality of the vehicles, and the presentation informationmay be information for monitoring a vehicle specified according torespective monitoring priority levels of the plurality of the vehicles.

Thus, the monitor can know which of the plurality of vehicles isrequested to be monitored, by checking the presentation informationoutput by the presentation device. That is, the monitor can know whichvehicle is requested to be monitored, without constantly monitoring allof the plurality of vehicles and without analyzing the situations of allof the plurality of vehicles in detail. Hence, in the case where thereare a plurality of monitoring target vehicles, the monitoring load onthe monitor can be effectively reduced. Since the monitor can be aidedin monitoring a plurality of vehicles, a plurality of vehicles can bemonitored by fewer persons than the vehicles.

The presentation information may include information for monitoring avehicle having a highest monitoring priority level or a monitoringpriority level higher than a threshold from among the plurality of thevehicles.

Thus, the presentation device presents the information for monitoringthe vehicle that is requested to be preferentially monitored by themonitor. For example, in the case where the presentation device is adisplay device and the presentation information includes an imagecaptured by a vehicle, an image of the vehicle that is requested to bemonitored by the monitor is displayed from among images captured by theplurality of vehicles. An image displayed by the display device may beswitched to an image of the vehicle that is requested to be monitored bythe monitor. Since the monitor need not determine the vehicle that isrequested to be preferentially monitored, the monitoring load on themonitor eau be further reduced.

The presentation information may include information for presentingfirst information for monitoring the vehicle specified according to amonitoring priority level thereof from among the plurality of thevehicles with more emphasis than second information for monitoring avehicle other than the vehicle specified.

Thus, even in the case where presentation information of the pluralityof vehicles are presented by the presentation device, the monitor canrecognize a vehicle that requires attention from among the plurality ofvehicles. For example, in the case where the presentation informationincludes an image of a vehicle, when displaying images of the pluralityof vehicles, the image size is changed between the vehicle that requiresattention and the other vehicles, so that the monitor can visuallyrecognize the vehicle that requires attention. Thus, even in the casewhere the presentation information a the plurality of vehicles arepresented by the presentation device, the monitoring load on the monitorcan be reduced.

The presentation information may include information for presentingrespective items of information for monitoring a plurality of vehiclesspecified, in order of respective monitoring priority levels of theplurality of vehicles specified.

Thus, even in the case where presentation information of the pluralityof vehicles are presented by the presentation device, the monitor canrecognize a vehicle that requires attention from among the plurality ofvehicles. For example, in the case where the presentation informationincludes identification information, by presenting the identificationnumbers in order of monitoring priority levels, the monitor canrecognize the vehicle that requires attention. Thus, even in the casewhere the presentation information of the plurality of vehicles arepresented by the presentation device, the monitoring load on the monitorcan be reduced.

The presentation information may include information for presentinginformation indicating the vehicle specified and a monitoring prioritylevel of the vehicle specified in association with each other.

Thus, the monitor can recognize the respective monitoring prioritylevels of the plurality of vehicles from the presentation information,and determine which vehicle is requested to be preferentially monitored.

The presentation information may include an image captured by thevehicle specified or an image showing the vehicle specified.

Thus, the monitor can not only recognize a vehicle that is requested tobe monitored, but also recognize the situation of the vehicle. Thisallows the monitor to promptly shift to monitoring work, while reducingthe monitoring load.

The information processing method may further include: determining, whenat least part of the first vehicle information is not obtained, thedegree according to an influence of not obtaining the at least part ofthe first vehicle information on determination of the monitoringpriority level.

Thus, even in the case where at least part of the first vehicleinformation cannot be obtained, an appropriate monitoring priority levelcan be determined. For example, in the case where first vehicleinformation having greater influence on the monitoring priority levelthan other first vehicle information cannot be obtained, the monitoringpriority level decreases in a period during which such first vehicleinformation is not obtained. In this case, presentation information isnot generated based on a monitoring priority level that reflects theactual situation, and inaccurate presentation information is presented.This is likely to cause the monitor to mistake a vehicle that isrequested to be preferentially monitored. With the foregoing method,however, even in the case where part of the first vehicle information isnot obtained, an appropriate monitoring priority level can bedetermined. This prevents the monitor from wrongly determining amonitoring target as a result of at least part of the first vehicleinformation not being obtained. The monitor may be presented withinformation that part of the first vehicle information is not obtained,via the presentation device.

The determining of the degree may include determining, when the at leastpart of the first vehicle information is not obtained, the degreeaccording to the influence of not obtaining the at least part of thefirst vehicle information on the determination of the monitoringpriority level, based on second vehicle information that is obtainedearlier than the first vehicle information and includes the at leastpart.

Thus, even in the case where at least part of the first vehicleinformation cannot be obtained, the monitoring priority level can bedetermined using the second vehicle information which is pastinformation and the influence on the determination of the monitoringpriority level. That is, by complementing the unobtained first vehicleinformation based on the past information, it is possible to determine amonitoring priority level that reflects the actual situation more than amonitoring priority level based on the first vehicle information part ofwhich cannot be obtained. This further prevents the monitor from wronglydetermining a monitoring target as a result of at least part of thefirst vehicle information not being obtained.

The determining of the degree may include determining the degreeaccording to the influence, based on an elapsed time from obtainment ofthe second vehicle information.

Thus, the monitoring priority level that takes into account the timeduring which at least part of the first vehicle information cannot beobtained is determined. If the period during which the first vehicleinformation is not obtained is longer, the gap between the secondvehicle information obtained in the past and the current vehiclesituation is greater, as a result of which the accuracy of thecomplemented first vehicle information, i.e. the monitoring prioritylevel, decreases. With the foregoing method, however, the monitoringpriority level that takes into account the period is determined, so thatan increase of wrong determination of a monitoring target by the monitordue to lengthening of the period during which at least part of the firstvehicle information cannot be obtained can be suppressed.

The obtaining may include obtaining the first vehicle informationthrough communication with the vehicle, and the information processingmethod may further include: controlling communication traffic of thecommunication according to the monitoring priority level.

Thus, communication with the vehicle can be optimized according to themonitoring priority level. For example, the communication traffic,communication count, communication frequency, communication time, etc.with a vehicle having a low degree of request for monitoring can bereduced. Thus, the monitoring load on the monitor can be reduced whilecontrolling use of network bandwidth for communication with the vehicledepending on the degree of request for monitoring.

An information processing system according to an aspect of the presentdisclosure is an information processing system including: an obtainerthat obtains vehicle information from a vehicle that is a monitoringtarget of a monitor, the vehicle information indicating at least one ofa running state and an external state of the vehicle a determiner thatdetermines a monitoring priority level of the vehicle according to adegree of request for monitoring the vehicle by the monitor, the degreebeing based on the vehicle information; and a presentation controllerthat generates presentation information for monitoring the vehicle basedon the monitoring priority level, and causes a presentation device tooutput the presentation information.

This information processing system has the same effects as the foregoinginformation processing method.

These general and specific aspects may be implemented using a system, anapparatus, an integrated circuit, a computer program, or acomputer-readable recording medium such as CD-ROM, or any combination ofsystems, apparatuses, integrated circuits, computer programs, andrecording media.

An embodiment will be described in detail below, with reference to thedrawings.

The embodiment described below shows a general and specific example. Thenumerical values, shapes, materials, structural elements, thearrangement and connection of the structural elements steps, the orderof steps, etc. shown in the following embodiments are mere examples, anddo not limit the scope of the present disclosure. Of the structuralelements in the embodiments described below, the structural element notrecited in any one of the independent claims representing the broadestconcepts are described as optional structural elements.

EMBODIMENT

An information processing method, etc. according to this embodiment willbe described below, with reference to FIGS. 1 to 15 .

A remote monitoring system (hereafter also simply referred to as“monitoring system”) obtains a sensing result from a monitored vehiclevia a communication means, and notifies the sensing result to a monitor.The monitor recognizes the state of the monitored vehicle and the stateof the surroundings of the monitored vehicle based on the notifiedsensing result, and determines whether intervention of an operator isrequested for the monitored vehicle. The monitor may examine anappropriate intervention method, including a method whereby the operatorindirectly controls the monitored vehicle. In the case where the monitordetermines that autonomous running of the monitored vehicle isdifficult, the monitor requests the operator to perform remoteoperation. The operator transmits a control signal relating to vehiclerunning to the monitored vehicle (i.e. operated vehicle), to remotelycontrol the monitored vehicle. In the case where the operator is themonitor, the operator may directly shift from monitoring to operation.

Structure of Monitoring System

A monitoring system including a server device that executes theinformation processing method according to this embodiment will bedescribed below, with reference to FIGS. 1 to 11 .

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of monitoring system1 according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an exampleof a monitoring room according to this embodiment.

Monitoring system 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 is an information processingsystem for monitoring vehicles M1, M2, . . . , and MN any of which canbe an operated vehicle. Vehicles M1, M2, . . . , and MN are hereafteralso referred to as “vehicles M1, etc.” The monitoring room illustratedin FIG. 2 is a room for monitoring vehicles M1, etc. by a monitor. Inthe monitoring room, information obtained from vehicles M1, etc. andinformation for monitoring vehicles M1, etc. are presented to themonitor, to enable the monitor to perform an operation for monitoring.In addition to the operation for monitoring by the monitor, an operationfor remotely operating the operated vehicle may be performed. Themonitor may be an operator who operates the operated vehicle, or aperson other than the operator. Although an example in which monitoringsystem 1 is an information processing system that monitors the pluralityof vehicles M1, etc. is described here, the number of vehicles monitoredby monitoring system 1 is not limited. For example, monitoring system 1may be an information processing system that monitors one vehicle.

As illustrated in FIG. 1 , monitoring system 1 includes server device10, input device 20, and display device 30.

Server device 10 is a processing device that performs determinationrelating to monitoring by the monitor. Specifically, server device 10performs monitoring-related determination, by information processing bya computer using input to input device 20 and vehicle informationobtained from vehicles M1, etc. The present disclosure has a featurethat server device 10 determines, for each of vehicles M1, etc., amonitoring priority level indicating the degree of priority ofmonitoring using vehicle information obtained from the vehicle, andgenerates and outputs presentation information for monitoring thevehicle based on the monitoring priority level. This will be describedin detail later.

Server device 10 is installed in a site communicably connectable tonetwork N, and the physical position of server device 10 is not limited.For example, installing server device 10 in or near the monitoring roomis advantageous for fast communication with input device 20 and displaydevice 30.

Input device 20 is an input device that receives input of operation bythe monitor. Input device 20 may be a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel,etc. connected to server device 10, or may be buttons operable by press,touch, etc. Input device 20 provides information relating to the inputoperation to server device 10. Input device 20 is installed in themonitoring room. In the case where server device 10 is in a remotelocation, input device 20 and server device 10 may be connected via anetwork.

Display device 30 is a device that obtains the presentation informationfrom server device 10 and outputs the presentation information as animage. The image includes photographs, illustrations, text, etc. Displaydevice 30 is, for example, a liquid crystal display. The image output bydisplay device 30 is visually recognized by the monitor, and used whendetermining, for example, whether the monitor is to monitor a vehicle,which vehicle is to be monitored by the monitor, and/or how to monitorthe vehicle. Display device 30 is an example of a presentation device.Monitoring system 1 may include a sound output device as a presentationdevice, in addition to or instead of display device 30. Monitoringsystem 1 may include, as a presentation device, a device that displayspresentation information on an object (e.g. a screen), such as aprojector. Display device 30 is installed in the monitoring room. In thecase where server device 10 is in a remote location, display device 30and server device 10 may be connected via a network.

Vehicle M1 is a vehicle with or without any occupant, and is, forexample, an automatic driving vehicle. Vehicle M1 is a vehicle that canbe subjected to monitoring by the monitor. Vehicle M1 is present in anexternal space other than the monitoring room. For example, vehicle M1is present on a road or in a parking space.

Vehicle M1 includes a communication interface. Vehicle M1 is connectedto network N through communication, and communicably connected to serverdevice 10 via network N. Vehicle M1 includes one or more cameras thatimage the surroundings of vehicle M1, and a plurality of sensors thatdetect the speed, acceleration, jerk, steering angle, remaining fuelamount, direction indicator activation state, ABS (anti-lock brakingsystem) or AEB (automatic emergency braking) activation state of vehicleM1, the presence/absence, number, and type of any object in thesurroundings of vehicle M1, and the distance, speed difference, andacceleration difference of vehicle M1 from the surrounding object.Vehicle M1 transmits information including image data generated as aresult of imaging by the one or more cameras and sensing data such asthe speed of vehicle M1 and the presence/absence of the surroundingobject obtained by the plurality of sensors, to server device 10 via thecommunication interface and network N. This information transmitted byvehicle M1 is also referred to as “vehicle information”. The foregoingvarious information transmitted as the vehicle information are alsoreferred to as “vehicle information types”. That is, the vehicleinformation per se may be of a plurality of types. Vehicle M1 can besubjected to acceleration/deceleration control, steering angle control,and the like by the monitor via network N, according to need. Suchcontrol by the monitor is also referred to as “remote operation”.

The vehicle information may further include life/death informationindicating whether the plurality of sensors are in operation, errorinformation such as information about system errors of vehicle M1, callinformation for calling the monitor from an occupant of vehicle M1, andthe like. In the case where vehicle M1 stores map information, thevehicle information may further include legal speed at the positionwhere vehicle M1 is running, information indicating the positionalrelationship of vehicle M1 with traffic lanes, and/or informationrelating to a moving route set by vehicle M1.

In the vehicle information, the information of the speed, etc. ofvehicle M1, the error information, the call information, the legalspeed, the information indicating the positional relationship withtraffic lanes, the moving route, and the like are an example ofinformation indicating a running state of vehicle M1, and theinformation of the presence/absence of the surrounding object and thelike are an example of information indicating a state outside vehicleM1. The vehicle information includes information indicating at least oneof the running state and external state of vehicle M1.

Vehicles M2 to MN are each the same vehicle as vehicle M1, and each moveindependently of vehicle M1. Vehicles M2 to MN each transmit image dataand sensing data generated by its device to server device 10, in thesame way as vehicle M1.

Network N is a communication network to which each of server device 10and vehicles M1, etc. is connected. A non-limiting example of acommunication standard or communication scheme of network N is a widearea communication network using a mobile phone network, a satellitecommunication network, or WiFi. Connection with vehicles M1, etc. iswireless.

Input device 20 and display device 30 are located in the monitoringroom. Input device 20 and display device 30 are located so that themonitor can easily perform input and visual recognition. For example,input device 20 and display device 30 are located on a desk in front ofa chair on which the monitor sits. Display device 31 that displaysimages of image data obtained by vehicles M1, etc., a map indicating thepositions of vehicles M1, etc. and the like is located so as to bevisible from the entire monitoring room. For example, display device 31displays images based on image data obtained from all of vehicles M1,M2, . . . , and MN any of which can be an operated vehicle. For example,display device 31 is connected to server device 10, and displays imagesfor all vehicles transmitted from server device 10. The displayed imagesare visually recognized by the monitor.

The number of monitors may be two or more. The number of monitors may hsmaller than the number of vehicles M1, etc. The monitor is expected toselect and monitor only a vehicle (or vehicles) determined to berequested to be monitored without monitoring the other vehicles, ratherthan constantly monitoring all vehicles M1, etc. This has the advantagethat the number of personnel necessary for monitoring can be reduced andthe monitor can concentrate on monitoring the vehicle that is requestedto be monitored. A vehicle is determined to be requested to bemonitored, for example, in the case where the vehicle is in a dangerousposition, in the case where the vehicle is in a dangerous state, in thecase where the vehicle is approaching a dangerous position, or in thecase where the vehicle is predicted to be in a dangerous state. Thenumber of monitors may be one, or the same as the number of vehicles M1,etc.

The monitor visually recognizes images presented by display device 30,and determines which of vehicles M1, etc. is to be monitored and how tomonitor the vehicle. The monitor inputs a vehicle as a monitoring targetor monitoring method to server device 10 via input device 20. Forexample, display device 30 presents an image of a vehicle that is amonitoring target of the monitor from among vehicles M1, M2, . . . , andMN any of which can be an operated vehicle, an image for selecting avehicle to be monitored, and the like.

A process by which server device 10 generates information forrecommending the monitor as to which vehicle is subjected to monitoring(i.e. monitoring target) will be described in detail below. In thiscase, the monitor determines which vehicle is to be monitored, based oninformation presented by display device 30. If the monitoring targetrecommended by server device 10 is appropriate, the load of work of themonitor for searching for a monitoring target from among vehicles M1,etc. can be reduced.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a functional structure of serverdevice 10 according to this embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 3 server device 10 includes communicator 11,vehicle manager 12, travel database (DB) 13, travel manager 14,recommender 15, receiver 16, monitoring controller 17, and video manager18.

Communicator 11 is a communication interface that is connected tonetwork N and communicable connected to vehicles M1, etc. via network N.Communicator 11 obtains vehicle information from vehicles M1, etc.Communicator 11 is an example of an obtainer.

Vehicle manager 12 is a processing unit that manages vehicles M1, etc.Vehicle manager 12 obtains the vehicle information transmitted byvehicles M1, etc., and manages the position, speed, running state, andthe like of each of vehicles M1, etc. based on the obtained vehicleinformation.

Travel DB 13 is a database that stores information for travel of each ofvehicles M1, etc. Travel DB 13 holds information of a map and a travelplan, as the information for travel of each of vehicles M1, etc. Thetravel plan includes information indicating a moving route by which thevehicle is scheduled to run, and information indicating a position atwhich the vehicle is scheduled to be present on the route at each pointin time during running. Travel DB 13 also stores a table in which aplurality of items of situation information of each of vehicles M1, etc.based on vehicle information are each associated with a degree ofrequest for monitoring the vehicle by the monitor in the situation ofthe situation information. Travel DB 13 may further store a table for,in the case where at least part of vehicle information is not obtained,complementing the degree of request for monitoring corresponding to theat least part.

Each type of table stored in travel DB 13 will be described below, withreference to FIGS. 4 and 5 . Travel DB 13 stores at least priority leveltable T1 out of priority level table T1 and complementary value table T2described below.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of priority level table T1stored in travel DB 13 according to this embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 4 , priority level table T1 is a tableassociating priority levels and items of situation information of avehicle with each other. In priority level table T1, a plurality ofitems of situation information of the vehicle are set, and a prioritylevel is set for each item of situation information of the vehicle.

Herein, each priority level is a numeric value according to the degreeof request for monitoring the vehicle by the monitor. For example, ahigher numeric value indicates a higher degree of request for monitoringby the monitor. That is, the priority level is a numeric value accordingto the degree to which running by automatic driving is hindered, andindicates the magnitude of risk associated with automatic driving orassociated with continuing automatic driving. The priority level is anumeric value based on first vehicle information.

Each item of situation information of the vehicle may be informationindicating a situation of the vehicle based on the vehicle information.For example, “occurrence of accident of own vehicle” is informationindicating a situation of the vehicle determined based on the runningstate, image, acceleration, and the like. In the case where the vehicleand an object around the vehicle are in contact with each other in animage, for example, “occurrence of accident of own vehicle” is detected.For example, “sudden start” is information indicating a situation of thevehicle determined based on the image, acceleration, and the like. Inthe case where the acceleration in a predetermined period when thevehicle starts to move from a stopped state is higher than or equal to apredetermined value, for example, “sudden start” is detected.

Each item of situation information of the vehicle may be informationbased not only on the vehicle information but also the travel planincluding the moving route of the vehicle. For example, “time scheduleslippage” is information indicating a situation of the vehicledetermined based on the position information of the vehicle included inthe vehicle information, the travel plan, and the like. In the casewhere the current position of the vehicle is at least a predetermineddistance away from the current scheduled position of the vehicleincluded in the travel plan, for example, “time schedule slippage” isdetected. For example, “railroad crossing” is information indicating asituation of the vehicle determined based on the position information ofthe vehicle included in the vehicle information, the map information,and the like. In the case where the current position of the vehicle iswithin a predetermined range from a railroad crossing, or example,“railroad crossing” is detected. Detection of situation information isperformed by recommender 15.

Each item of situation information of the vehicle may be informationbased on the monitoring information. For example, “not monitored forlong time” is information indicating a situation of the vehicledetermined based on the monitoring time and the like included in themonitoring information. In the case where the elapsed time from when themonitoring of the vehicle ends or when the vehicle is set as amonitoring candidate is greater than or equal to a threshold, forexample, “not monitored for long time” is detected. Alternatively, “riskthat occurs as a result of not being monitored for long time” may besituation information of the vehicle. For example, the risk is detecteddepending on the elapsed time from when the monitoring of the vehicleends or when the vehicle is set as a monitoring candidate. A pluralityof thresholds and a plurality of risks may be used.

In FIG. 4 , the five items of situation information (hereafter alsoreferred to as “danger information”) from “occurrence of accident of ownvehicle” to “time schedule slippage” are information indicating that thevehicle is in a dangerous situation, and the two items of situationinformation (hereafter also referred to as “caution information”) from“railroad crossing” to “occurrence of traffic congestion caused by ownvehicle” are information indicating that the vehicle is likely to be ina dangerous situation in the future. The caution information indicates asituation in which running by automatic driving is possible as there isno problem in vehicle running. The foregoing “not monitored for longtime” and “risk that occurs as a result of not being monitored for longtime” are caution information.

Each priority level in FIG. 4 may be a value weighted by a weight(coefficient) corresponding to situation information. For example,“occurrence of accident of own vehicle” is a situation that immediatelyrequires monitoring by the monitor and is assigned a high weight, andtherefore its priority level is high. On the other hand, “time scheduleslippage” is a situation that does not require monitoring as urgently as“occurrence of accident of own vehicle” and is assigned a low weight,and therefore its priority level is low. Specifically, each prioritylevel may be set based on the degree of request for monitoring by themonitor and the weight that correspond to a corresponding one of theplurality of items of situation information each of which indicates asituation of the vehicle based on the vehicle information. The weightmay be determined, for example, according to the seriousness of anaccident that can occur in the situation of the corresponding situationinformation or the accident occurrence rate. The accident occurrencerate is the probability that an event (e.g. accident) which is requestedto be handled by the monitor occurs if the situation of the vehicle“occurrence of traffic congestion caused by own vehicle”) is leftunattended.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of complementary value tableT2 stored in travel DB 13 according to this embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 5 , complementary value table T2 is a tableassociating complementary values and items of situation information of avehicle with each other. In complementary value table T2, a plurality ofitems of situation information of the vehicle are set, and acomplementary value is set for each item of situation information of thevehicle. The types of situation information of the vehicle set incomplementary value table T2 may be, for example, the same as the typesof situation information of the vehicle set in priority level table T1.Each complementary value is a numeric value according to the influenceof not obtaining at least part of the vehicle information and the travelinformation on the determination of the monitoring priority level. Forexample, when the influence on the monitoring priority level is higher,the complementary value is higher. The monitoring priority leveldetermined based on a value (e.g. a sum) calculated from a prioritylevel corresponding to each detected item of situation information fromamong the plurality of items of situation information. The complementaryvalue may be higher than or lower than the priority level.

At least one of priority level table T1 and complementary value table T2may include priority levels or complementary values for externalenvironments. Take priority level table T1 as an example. Priority leveltable T1 may further include each external environment and a prioritylevel associated with the external environment. The external environmentincludes at least one of traffic congestion information, weatherinformation, accident history information, road surface situation, androad width information of a road on which the vehicle is running. Thetraffic congestion information includes the number of other vehiclesrunning on the running route of the vehicle. The weather informationincludes clouds, rain, and snow. The road surface state includes wet,and icy. The external environment is detected, for example, from sensingdata, image data, map information, and the like.

Referring back to FIG. 3 , travel manager 14 is a processing unit thatmanages travel of each of vehicles M1, etc. Travel manager 14 obtainsinformation such as a travel plan of each of vehicles M1, etc. fromtravel DB 13, and transmits instruction information including a movingroute of the vehicle to the vehicle M1. Travel manager 14 alsodetermines travel information including information of how long thetravel of the vehicle is delayed with respect to the travel plan.

Recommender 15 is a processing unit that generates information forrecommending a vehicle as a monitoring target of the monitor to themonitor. Recommender 15 obtains, from vehicle manager 12, the vehicleinformation transmitted by each of vehicles M1, etc., and obtains, fromtravel manager 14, the travel information relating to the travel of thevehicle. Recommender 15 then generates recommendation information forrecommending a vehicle as a monitoring target of the monitor to themonitor, based on the obtained vehicle information and travelinformation. The recommendation information includes informationspecifying the vehicle that is subjected to recommendation formonitoring. For example, the recommendation information is representedby a monitoring priority level indicating the degree to which thevehicle is to be preferentially monitored as compared with the othervehicles. The recommendation information may be a monitoringrecommendation level indicating the degree to which the vehicle isrecommended as the monitoring target. Recommender 15 determines themonitoring priority level based on at least the vehicle information.

In the case where there is no vehicle as the monitoring target of themonitor (e.g. there is no vehicle whose monitoring priority level ishigher than or equal to a predetermined threshold), recommender 15 maygenerate information indicating that no monitoring is requested. Theinformation indicating that no monitoring is requested is included inthe recommendation information. Recommender 15 is an example of adeterminer.

Receiver 16 is a processing unit that receives operation informationindicating input operation by the monitor input to input device 20. Forexample, the operation information includes monitoring target switchingoperation.

Monitoring controller 17 is a processing unit that determines a vehicleas a monitoring target. Monitoring controller 17 determines the vehicleas the monitoring target based on the recommendation informationgenerated by recommender 15 and the operation information received byreceiver 16, and generates monitoring information indicating the vehicleas the monitoring target. Monitoring controller 17 provides thegenerated monitoring information to video manager 18.

The monitoring information generated by monitoring controller 17includes information specifying the vehicle as the monitoring target.The monitoring information may also include information indicating thereason why the vehicle is determined as the monitoring target. Themonitoring information includes, for example, information indicatingwhich of the plurality of items of situation information in FIG. 4 isdetected. The monitoring information may further include the monitoringpriority level.

Monitoring controller 17 has an automatic update mode and a manualupdate mode, as operation modes for determination of a monitoring targetvehicle. The automatic update mode is a mode of determining themonitoring target vehicle according to the recommendation informationand generating the monitoring information regardless of whether theoperation information is received or the contents of the receivedoperation information. The manual update mode is a mode of determiningthe monitoring target vehicle according to the operation information andgenerating the monitoring information regardless of whether there isrecommendation information or the contents of the recommendationinformation.

Video manager 18 is a processing unit that manages video to be displayedon display device 30. Video manager 18 generates presentationinformation including image data relating to the video to be displayedon display device 30, and outputs the presentation information todisplay device 30. Video manager 18 obtains the monitoring informationfrom monitoring controller 17, and, in the case where the monitoringinformation includes the information specifying the vehicle as themonitoring target, includes, in the presentation information, image datawhich communicator 11 has received from the monitoring target vehicle.Video manager 18 is an example of a presentation controller thatgenerates presentation information and causes display device 30 tooutput the generated presentation information.

Specifically, the presentation information may include informationindicating the vehicle as the monitoring target indicated in themonitoring information. In the case where the monitoring informationincludes information indicating one or more vehicles that can be themonitoring target, the presentation information may include themonitoring priority level of each of the one or more vehicles includedin the monitoring information. In the case where the monitoringinformation includes information indicating a monitoring direction, thepresentation information may include a captured image of the monitoringdirection included in the monitoring information. In the case wherethere is no vehicle as the monitoring target of the monitor, thepresentation information may include information indicating that nomonitoring is requested.

Examples of the presentation information generated by video manager 18,i.e. displayed by display device 30, will be described below.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a first example ofpresentation information according to this embodiment. FIG. 6illustrates an example in which monitoring priority levels are presentedas presentation information.

As illustrated in FIG. 6 , image 32 displayed by display device 30includes image 34 indicating the monitoring priority level of each ofvehicles M1, etc. That is, video manager 18 causes display device 30 topresent image 32 in which vehicles M1, etc. are associated with theirmonitoring priority levels. The monitoring priority levels are eachinformation indicating the degree by which the vehicle is to bepreferentially monitored. For example, the monitoring priority levelsare expressed in three levels of A (high), B (medium), and C (low). Forexample, the monitoring priority level of vehicle M1 is A, and themonitoring priority level of vehicle M2 is B. Image 32 includes image 33of each of respective buttons for starting monitoring of vehicles M1,etc. The monitoring priority levels may be numeric values. For example,the monitoring priority levels may each be a value obtained by addingtogether the priority levels corresponding to the detected items ofsituation information from among the plurality of items of situationinformation. An initial value, of each monitoring priority level may bea predetermined value (e.g. 0). The initial value of the monitoringpriority level means that there is no situation that requires immediateor future monitoring.

The presentation information is, for example, information for monitoringvehicle M1 or the like specified according to the respective monitoringpriority levels of the plurality of vehicles M1, etc. The presentationinformation may include information for preferentially presenting avehicle whose monitoring priority level is high. The presentationinformation may include information for presenting respective items ofinformation indicating the plurality of vehicles M1, etc. in order oftheir monitoring priority levels. The presentation information mayinclude information for presenting respective items of information formonitoring vehicles specified according to their monitoring prioritylevels from among the plurality of vehicles M1, etc., in order of themonitoring priority levels of the plurality of specified vehicles. Thepresentation information may include information for presentinginformation indicating each vehicle specified according to themonitoring priority level from among the plurality of vehicles M1, etc.and the monitoring priority level of the specified vehicle inassociation with each other. The presentation information may include infor displaying the vehicles in descending order of monitoring prioritylevel or in ascending order of monitoring priority level. FIG. 6illustrates an example in which the vehicles are displayed in descendingorder of monitoring priority level.

The presentation information may include information for presentinginformation (an example of first information) for monitoring a vehiclespecified according to the monitoring priority level from among theplurality of vehicles M1, etc. with more emphasis than information (anexample of second information) for monitoring the vehicles other thanthe specified vehicle. For example, the presentation information mayinclude information (hereafter also referred to as “emphasisinformation”) for presenting information (an example of firstinformation) indicating a vehicle having the highest monitoring prioritylevel or a monitoring priority level higher than the threshold with moreemphasis than information (an example of second information) indicatingthe other vehicles. For example, the presentation information mayinclude information for presenting, from among button images 33, buttonimage 33 corresponding to vehicle M1 whose monitoring priority level ishigh in a form different from button images 33 corresponding to theother vehicles.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a second example ofpresentation information according to this embodiment. FIG. 7illustrates an example in which image data obtained from vehicles M1,etc. are presented as presentation information.

As illustrated in FIG. 7 , image 32 a displayed by display device 30includes images 35 to 37 respectively for vehicles M1, etc. For example,image 35 is an image based on image data captured by one or more camerasin vehicle M1 (an example of an attention vehicle) whose monitoringpriority level is high. Likewise, images 36 and 37 are each an imagebased on image data captured by one or more cameras in a vehicle (anexample of other vehicle), such as vehicle M2, etc., whose monitoringpriority level is lower than that of vehicle M1. Thus, the presentationinformation may include, as emphasis information, information fordisplaying image 35 of vehicle M1 whose monitoring priority level ishigh m a larger area than each of images 36 and 37 of vehicle M2, etc.whose monitoring priority levels are lower than that of vehicle M1.Image 35 is an example of a first image included in first information,and images 36 and 37 are each an example of a second image included insecond information.

Image 32 a may include an image of each of respective buttons (seebutton images 33 illustrated in FIG. 6 ) for starting monitoring ofvehicles M1, etc.

The monitor visually recognizes image 32 or 32 a, selects a vehicle as amonitoring target, and operates button image 33 corresponding to theselected vehicle. This operation is received by input device 20, andoperation information indicating the operation is received by receiver16.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate examples in which images for the monitorselecting a vehicle as a monitoring target are displayed on displaydevice 30, i.e. presentation information includes information for themonitor to select a monitoring target vehicle. Examples in whichpresentation information is information for displaying an image of avehicle that is a monitoring target of the monitor will be describedbelow.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a third example ofpresentation information according to this embodiment. FIG. 8illustrates an example in which an image based on image data obtainedfrom vehicle M1 is presented as presentation information.

As illustrated in FIG. 8 , image 38 displayed by display device 30 is animage of vehicle M1 whose monitoring priority level is high (e.g.highest). Thus, the presentation information includes information formonitoring vehicle M1 having the highest monitoring priority level or amonitoring priority level higher than the threshold from among theplurality of vehicles M1, etc. The presentation information includesimage 38 (see FIG. 8 ) captured by vehicle M1 having the highestmonitoring priority level or a monitoring priority level higher than thethreshold from among the plurality of vehicles M1, etc., or an imageshowing vehicle M1. In other words, the presentation information mayinclude, for example, information for switching an image displayed ondisplay device 30 to image 38 captured by vehicle M1 or an image showingthe vehicle. Thus, the work of the monitor to select a monitoring targetcan be omitted, so that the monitoring load on the monitor can befurther reduced.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a fourth example ofpresentation information according to this embodiment. FIG. 9illustrates an example in which a reason for selecting vehicle M1 ispresented in image 38 illustrated in FIG. 8 . That is, the presentationinformation includes information indicating the contribution of at leastone of the plurality of items of situation information to the monitoringpriority level.

As illustrated in FIG. 9 , image 38 displayed by display device 30includes image 39 indicating a reason for determining vehicle M1 as themonitoring target. Image 39 is included in information indicatingcontribution. The image in FIG. 9 indicates that “sudden start”contributes most to the determination of vehicle M1 as the monitoringtarget image 39 is included in information indicating contribution. Apriority level corresponding to “sudden start” may be superimposed onimage 38. In the case where situation information other than “suddenstart” is detected, the detected situation information may be presentedin a state of being superimposed on image 38.

In the case where there is no vehicle whose monitoring priority level ishigher than or equal to the predetermined threshold (e.g. in the casewhere there is no monitoring target vehicle), presentation informationindicating that no monitoring is requested may be presented. Forexample, information indicating that there is no monitoring target,information urging to take a break from monitoring work, or informationurging to do work other than monitoring work may be presented aspresentation information. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustratinga fifth example of presentation information according to thisembodiment. Specifically, FIG. 10 illustrates an example in which image38 including image 40 indicating that there is no monitoring target asthe information indicating that no monitoring is requested is displayed.

The time during which there is no vehicle whose monitoring prioritylevel is higher than or equal to the predetermined threshold, i.e. thetime during which no monitoring is requested, may be recorded, andstatistical information of the time during which no monitoring isrequested may be presented. For example, statistical information such asa mean value, a median value, or a mode value of the time during whichno monitoring is requested or its distribution in a specific period suchas a day, a week, or a month may be presented. A process of recordingthe time during which no monitoring is requested is performed, forexample, by monitoring controller 17. The statistical information may beincluded in the monitoring information.

From the statistical information of the time during which no monitoringis requested, a suggestion for a period away from monitoring work, suchas a break, may be presented. For example, information urging to take abreak in a time of day in which the time during which no monitoring isrequested is statistically long may be presented. A process ofsuggesting a period away from monitoring work, such as a break, isperformed, for example, by monitoring controller 17. The suggestion(e.g. information urging to take a break) may be included in themonitoring information.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a sixth example ofpresentation information according to this embodiment. Specifically,FIG. 11 illustrates an example in which image 38 including image 41indicating, as the time during which no monitoring is requested and theinformation urging to take a break, a mean value of the time duringwhich no monitoring is requested and a suggestion to take a break isdisplayed.

Operation of Monitoring System

A process by monitoring system 1 having the structure described abovewill be described below.

FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram illustrating a process by monitoringsystem 1 according to this embodiment. The sequence diagram in FIG. 12illustrates flow of processing for determining a recommended monitoringtarget using vehicle information. Although vehicle M1 is used as anexample of vehicles M1, etc. in FIG. 12 , the same process is performedfor ether vehicles M2 to MN.

As illustrated in FIG. 12 , in Step S101, travel manager 14 in serverdevice 10 sets a moving route of vehicle M1 based on a travel plan ofvehicle M1 stored in travel DB 13. Travel manager 14 then transmitsinstruction information including the set moving route to vehicle M1.For other vehicles M2 to MN, travel manager 14 equally sets a movingroute and transmits instruction information.

In Step S121, vehicle M1 receives the instruction informationtransmitted by travel manager 14 in Step S101. Vehicle M1 runs accordingto the moving route set by travel manager 14, based on the receivedinstruction information.

In Step S122, vehicle M1 obtains vehicle information (i.e. sensing dataand image data) indicating position, speed, acceleration, steeringangle, etc. during running.

In Step S123, vehicle M1 transmits the vehicle information (i.e. sensingdata and image data) obtained in Step S122, to server device 10. AfterStep S123, vehicle M1 also obtains vehicle information (i.e. sensingdata and image data) indicating position, speed, acceleration, steeringangle, etc., during running and transmits the vehicle information toserver device 10.

The processes in Step S121 to S123 are equally performed for othervehicles M2 to M.

In Step S102, communicator 11 in server device 10 receives the vehicleinformation (i.e. sensing data and image data) including the vehicleinformation transmitted by each of vehicles M1, etc. in Step S123.Communicator 11 provides the received vehicle in (i.e. sensing data andimage data) to vehicle manager 12. In Step S102, communicator 11 obtainsthe vehicle information (i.e. sensing data and image data) that isobtained a vehicle which can be a monitoring target of the monitor andindicates at least one of the running state and external state of thevehicle, through communication.

In Step S103, travel manager 14 in server device 10 determines whetherthe position information included in the vehicle information received inStep S102 conforms to the travel plan, and generates travel informationindicating the determination result.

In Step S104, recommender 15 determines a monitoring priority level foreach of the plurality of vehicles M1, etc. Specifically, recommender 15obtains, from vehicle manager 12, the vehicle information received bycommunicator 11 in Step S102, and obtains the travel informationgenerated by travel manager 14 in Step S103. Recommender 15 thendetermines the monitoring priority level of the vehicle according to thedegree of request for monitoring the vehicle by the monitor based on theobtained vehicle information and travel information. Specifically,recommender 15 determines the monitoring priority level based on theobtained vehicle information and travel information and a table (e.g.priority level table T1) stored in travel DB 13.

In Step S105, recommender 15 determines a recommendation target vehiclethat is requested to be monitored by the monitor, based on themonitoring priority level determined in Step S104. Specifically,recommender 15 may determine a vehicle having the highest monitoringpriority level or a monitoring priority level higher than or equal tothe predetermined threshold from among the plurality of vehicles M1,etc., as the recommendation target vehicle. The number of recommendationtarget vehicles determined in Step S106 is not limited to one, and maybe two or more. That is, in Step S105, recommender 15 may determine twoor more vehicles from among the plurality of vehicles M1 etc., asrecommendation target vehicles. For example, recommender 15 maydetermine one or more vehicles M1 whose monitoring priority levels arehigher than or equal to the predetermined value, as recommendationtarget vehicles. From the perspective of reducing the monitoring load onthe monitor, however, the number of recommendation target vehiclesdetermined in Step S105 is desirably smaller, and may be, for example,one.

In Step S105, recommender 15 may determine that there is norecommendation target vehicle that is requested to be monitored by themonitor, based on the monitoring priority level determined in Step S104.For example, in the case where there is no vehicle whose monitoringpriority level is higher than or equal to the predetermined thresholdfrom among the plurality of vehicles M1, etc., recommender 15 maydetermine that there is no recommendation target vehicle that isrequested to be monitored by the monitor. That is, in Step S105,recommender 15 may determine whether there is a recommendation targetvehicle that is requested to be monitored by the monitor, based on themonitoring priority level determined in Step S104.

Recommender 15 then provides recommendation information includinginformation specifying the recommendation target vehicle or informationindicating that there is no recommendation target vehicle, to monitoringcontroller 17.

In Step S141, input device 20 receives operation for switching amonitoring target by the monitor. This operation may be operation basedon determination as a result of the monitor visually recognizinginformation displayed on display device 31 and examining which vehicleis to be a monitoring target. Input device 20 transmits operationinformation indicating the received operation, to server device 10. Theoperation information includes information indicating which of vehiclesM1, etc. the monitor has switched the monitoring target to. In the casewhere operation by the monitor has not been performed, input device 20may transmit, to server device 10, operation information indicating thatthere is no operation, or transmit no operation information.

In Step S106, receiver 16 in server device 10 receives the operationinformation transmitted by input device 20 in Step S141.

In Step S107, monitoring controller 17 determines a monitoring target ofthe monitor, and generates monitoring information for specifying themonitoring target. Here, monitoring controller 17 determines themonitoring target, based on the recommendation information provided byrecommender 15 in Step S105 and the operation information received byreceiver 16. Monitoring controller 17 provides the generated monitoringinformation to video manager 18.

In the case where monitoring controller 17 obtains recommendationinformation including information that there is no recommendation targetvehicle, in Step S107, monitoring controller 17 may generate monitoringinformation including at least one of: information indicating that nomonitoring is requested; statistical information of the time duringwhich no monitoring is requested; and a suggestion for a period awayfrom monitoring work, and provide the monitoring information to videomanager 18. Monitoring controller 17 may, for example, record the timefrom when the recommendation information indicating that there is norecommendation target vehicle is obtained to when recommendationinformation including information specifying a recommendation targetvehicle is first obtained, as the time during which no monitoring isrequested.

In Step S108, video manager 18 generates presentation information forpresentation to the monitor, based on the monitoring informationprovided from monitoring controller 17 in Step S107.

In Step S109, video manager 18 transmits the presentation informationgenerated in Step S108 to display device 30. In detail, in Steps S108and S109, video manager 18 generates presentation information formonitoring a vehicle based on the monitoring priority level, andtransmits the generated presentation information to display device 30.

In Step S131, display device 30 receives the presentation informationtransmitted by monitoring controller 17 in Step S109, and displaysinformation relating to a monitoring target vehicle based on thepresentation information. In detail, video manager 18 causes displaydevice 30 to output the presentation information, by transmitting thepresentation information to display device 30.

In the case where the current operation mode of monitoring controller 17is the manual update mode, the processes in Steps S106 and S141 may beomitted.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a process by recommender 15according to this embodiment. FIG. 13 illustrates the details of theprocess in Step S104 in FIG. 12 .

In Step S201, recommender 15 obtains the vehicle information and thetravel information. Specifically, recommender 15 obtains the vehicleinformation from vehicle manager 12, and obtains the travel informationrelating to the travel of each of vehicles M1, etc. from travel manager14. Recommender 15 obtains at least the vehicle information in StepS201.

In Step S202, recommender 15 determines the monitoring priority level ofthe vehicle based on the vehicle information and the travel informationof the vehicle. Specifically, recommender 15 determines the monitoringpriority level based on the vehicle information and the travel in of thevehicle and priority level table T1. In detail, recommender 15determines the degree of request for monitoring the vehicle by themonitor, based on the vehicle information and the travel information.Recommender 15 determines, as the degree of request for monitoring, apriority level corresponding to an item of situation informationdetected from among the plurality of items of situation information inpriority level table T1.

For example, when recommender 15 determines that an accident occurs inthe vehicle from the running state, camera images, acceleration, and thelike, recommender 15 detects “occurrence of accident of own vehicle”,and determines the priority level of the vehicle as “23”. Whenrecommender 15 obtains a call from an occupant of the vehicle,recommender 15 detects “occurrence of call”, and determines the prioritylevel of the vehicle as “18”. When recommender 15 determines that thevehicle is located near a railroad crossing from the positioninformation of the vehicle and the map information, recommender 15detects “railroad crossing”, and determines the priority level of thevehicle as “4”.

In the case where each priority level in priority level table T1 is nota weighted value, in Step S202, the degree of request for monitoring bythe monitor may be determined using weights. For example, the degree ofrequest for monitoring by the monitor may be determined by multiplyingthe priority level corresponding to the situation information by aweight corresponding to the situation information. That is, the degreeof request for monitoring by the monitor may be determined throughcomputation. In this case, the weight is a value set beforehand.

The weights corresponding to the plurality of items of situationinformation may each be determined as appropriate according to, forexample, the situation of the vehicle or the surroundings of thevehicle. Each weight may be determined according to information otherthan the situation information corresponding to the weight. An exampleof the other information is such information (e.g. the number of objectsaround the vehicle included in the vehicle information) that causes achange in the degree of request for monitoring by the monitor for thesituation information (e.g. “pedestrian crossing”) corresponding to theweight. That is, the other information is information that influencesthe degree of request for monitoring by the monitor in the situationinformation.

For example, for the situation information “pedestrian crossing” (anexample of first situation information), the degree of request formonitoring by the monitor changes according to the number of objectsaround the vehicle (i.e. the number of surrounding objects). Forexample, when the number of surrounding objects (e.g. the number ofpersons) is larger, the running risk of the vehicle is higher (e.g. theaccident occurrence rate is higher), and therefore the degree of requestfor monitoring by the monitor is higher. Hence, recommender 15 mayassign a larger weight to “pedestrian crossing” when the number ofsurrounding objects is larger. The other information is not limited tothe number of surrounding objects included in the vehicle information,and may be situation information (an example of second situationinformation, such as “sudden start”) other than the situationinformation from among the plurality of items of situation information,the travel information, or a combination thereof. For example, in thecase where a vehicle stopped near a pedestrian crossing starts to move,“sudden start” increases the running risk of the vehicle at thepedestrian crossing, and therefore the degree of request for monitoringby the monitor is higher. Hence, recommender 15 may assign a largerweight to “pedestrian crossing” in the case of “sudden start” than inthe case of not “sudden stare”.

Thus, the plurality of items of situation information include the firstsituation information (e.g. “Pedestrian crossing”) and the secondsituation information (e.g. “sudden start”) different from the firstsituation information. The weight corresponding to the first situationinformation may be determined according to at least one of the secondsituation information, the vehicle information, and the travelinformation.

The weights corresponding to the plurality of items of situationinformation may each be determined according to the time during whichthe monitor is not responding (e.g. not monitoring) from when thesituation information is detected. Take the situation information“occurrence of call” as an example. The weight corresponding to thesituation information “occurrence of call” may be determined accordingto the time (hereafter also referred to as “non-response time”) duringwhich the monitor is not responding to a call from the occupant of thevehicle from when the call is obtained by server device 10. For example,when the non-response time for “occurrence of call” is longer, therunning risk of the vehicle is higher, and therefore the degree ofrequest for monitoring by the monitor is higher. Hence, recommender 15may assign a larger weight to “occurrence of call” when the non-responsetime for the call is longer.

The weights corresponding to the plurality of items of situationinformation may each be determined according to the difference fromreference in the situation information. Take the situation information“time schedule slippage” as an example. The weight corresponding to thesituation information “time schedule slippage” may be determinedaccording to the time difference (e.g. the delay time from the travelplan) from the travel plan (an example of reference in situationinformation) set beforehand. For example, when the time difference fromthe travel plan is greater, the running risk of the vehicle is higher,and therefore the degree of request for monitoring by the monitor ishigher. Hence, recommender 15 may assign a larger weight to “timeschedule slippage” when the time difference from the travel plan isgreater.

As another example of determining the weight according to the differencefrom the reference value in the situation information is the situationinformation “speed anomaly” (not illustrated). The weight correspondingto the situation information “speed anomaly” may be determined accordingto the speed difference from the legal speed (an example of reference insituation information) of the road on which the vehicle is running. Forexample, when the speed difference from the legal speed is greater, therunning risk of the vehicle is higher, and therefore the degree ofrequest for monitoring by the monitor is higher. Hence, recommender 15may assign a larger weight to “speed anomaly” when the speed differencefrom the legal speed is greater. The legal speed is obtained, forexample, based on the position information of the vehicle and the mapinformation.

In Step S203, recommender 15 determines the monitoring priority level ofthe vehicle. Specifically, recommender 15 determines the priority leveldetermined in Step S202, as the monitoring priority level of thevehicle. In the case where a plurality of items of situation informationare detected for one vehicle in Step S202, i.e. a plurality of prioritylevels are determined for one vehicle, recommender 15 may calculate themonitoring priority level by performing predetermined computation on theplurality of priority levels. One monitoring priority level isdetermined for one vehicle. The computation includes at least one ofaddition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. For example,recommender 15 adds the plurality of priority levels together, todetermine the monitoring priority level of the vehicle.

As described above, the monitoring priority level of each of vehiclesM1, etc. is determined based on at least the vehicle information. Theprocess in FIG. 13 is performed for each of the plurality of vehiclesM1, etc.

A process by recommender 15 in the case where at least part of thevehicle information and the travel information cannot be obtaineddescribed below, with reference to FIGS. 14A and 14B. FIGS. 14A and 14Billustrate the case where at least part of the vehicle informationcannot be obtained.

FIG. 14A is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process byrecommender 15 according to this embodiment in the case where at leastpart of the vehicle information of the vehicle cannot be obtained. FIG.14B is a flowchart illustrating another example of a process byrecommender 15 according to this embodiment in the case where at leastpart of the vehicle information of the vehicle cannot be obtained. Theprocess in each of FIGS. 14A and 14B is a process performed betweenSteps S201 and S202 in FIG. 13 .

As illustrated in FIG. 14A, in Step S301, recommender 15 determineswhether part of the vehicle information from the vehicle is missing.That is, recommender 15 determines whether part of the vehicleinformation of the vehicle cannot be obtained. Examples of the casewhere part of the vehicle information cannot be obtained include thecase where predetermined information (e.g. speed information) in thevehicle information cannot be obtained and the case where theinformation included in the obtained vehicle information differs betweena plurality of vehicles.

In the case where recommender 15 determines that part of the vehicleinformation is missing (Step S301: Yes), the process advances to StepS302. Otherwise (Step S301: No), the process in the case where part ofthe vehicle information is missing ends. That is, recommender 15performs the process in Step S202 using the vehicle information of thevehicle obtained in Step S201.

In Step S302, recommender 15 obtains the priority level of the situationinformation corresponding to the missing vehicle information fromcomplementary value table T2. Specifically, recommender 15 reads, fromcomplementary value table T2 in FIG. 5 , the complementary valuecorresponding to the situation of the vehicle based on the vehicleinformation that cannot be obtained, and determines the readcomplementary value as the priority level corresponding to the situationinformation. The complementary value is determined based on theinfluence of not obtaining at least part of the vehicle information onthe determination of the monitoring priority level. For example, in thecase where the unobtained information is the position information, theinfluence is higher when the number of items of situation informationbased on the position information from among the plurality of items ofsituation information is larger. Therefore, for example, thecomplementary value of the situation information based on the positioninformation may be set to be high. In the case where the unobtainedinformation is the position information, the influence is higher whenthe priority level of the situation information based on the positioninformation from among the plurality of items of situation informationis higher. Therefore, for example, the complementary value of thesituation information based on the position information may be set to behigher when the priority level of the situation information is higher.

As illustrated in FIG. 14B, in Step S401, recommender 15 determineswhether part of the vehicle information from the vehicle is missing.That is, recommender 15 determines whether part of the vehicleinformation of the vehicle cannot be obtained. The process in Step S401is the same as that in Step S301 in FIG. 14A, and accordingly itsdescription is omitted. In the case where recommender 15 determines thatpart of the vehicle information is missing (Step S401: Yes), the processadvances to Step S402. Otherwise (Step S401: No), the process in theease where part of the vehicle information is missing ends. That is,recommender 15 performs the process in Step S202 using the vehicleinformation of the vehicle obtained in Step S201.

In Step S402, recommender 15 obtains a current priority level byperforming predetermined computation on a most recently obtainedpriority level. The predetermined computation may be to multiply themost recently obtained priority level by a predetermined correctioncoefficient. Travel DB 13 may store a correction coefficient table basedon the influence caused as a result of at least part of the vehicleinformation not being obtained. Recommender 15 may then multiply themost recently obtained priority level in the situation information basedalso on the at least part of the vehicle information by thepredetermined correction coefficient to perform correction, thusobtaining the current priority level of the situation information.

The current priority level is a priority level determined based on thevehicle information (an example of first vehicle information) obtainedin Step S201. The most recently obtained priority level is a prioritylevel determined based on the vehicle information (an example of secondvehicle information) obtained earlier than the vehicle informationobtained in Step S201. The vehicle information obtained earlier isinformation including the at least part of the vehicle information notobtained in Step S201. The most recently obtained priority level may bea priority level obtained immediately before the current time, or astatistical value such as a mean value, a median value, a maximum value,or a minimum value of a plurality of priority levels obtained mostrecently (e.g. most recently obtained five priority levels)

As described above, recommender 15 complements the degree of request formonitoring by the monitor for the at least part, based on the secondvehicle information obtained earlier than the first vehicle informationand including the at least part and the influence of not obtaining theat least part on the determination of the monitoring priority level. Inthe case where at least part of the first vehicle information is notobtained recommender 15 may determine the degree of request formonitoring by the monitor according to the influence of not obtainingthe at least part on the determination of the monitoring priority level,based on the second vehicle information obtained earlier than the firstvehicle information and including the at least part. Recommender 15 may,for example, determine the degree of request for monitoring by themonitor, by complementing the first vehicle information. For example, inthe case where vehicle speed cannot be obtained, recommender 15 maycalculate the priority level by complementing the vehicle speed byprevious vehicle speed or vehicle speed that takes into account itschange with time.

In Step S402, recommender 15 may determine the degree of request formonitoring by the monitor according to the influence, based on theelapsed time from when the second vehicle information was obtained inthe past. Recommender 15 may, for example, convert the correctioncoefficient according to the elapsed time from when the unobtained partof the vehicle information was most recently obtained to the currenttime. For example, recommender 15 may convert the correction coefficientto be higher (e.g. so that the priority level will be higher) when theelapsed time is longer.

Travel DB 13 may store a conversion table (not illustrated) forconverting correction coefficients. Recommender 15 may then read theconversion table and multiply the most recently obtained priority levelby a coefficient based on the read conversion table, to correct the mostrecently obtained priority level.

Recommender 15 may not perform the processes illustrated in FIGS. 14Aand 14B.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a process by monitoring controller17 according to this embodiment. FIG. 15 illustrates the details of theprocess in Step S107 in FIG. 12 .

In Step S501, monitoring controller 17 determines whether receiver 16receives operation information from input device 20. In the case wheremonitoring controller 17 determines that operation information isreceived (Step S501: Yes), the process advances to Step S502. Otherwise(Step S501: No), Step S501 is performed again. Thus, monitoringcontroller 17 is in a standby state in Step S501 until operationinformation is received.

In Step S502, monitoring controller 17 obtains operation by the monitor,based on the operation information received by receiver 16.

In Step S503, monitoring controller 17 determines whether monitoringtarget switching operation is performed. In the case where monitoringcontroller 17 determines that the operation is performed (Step S503:Yes), the process advances to Step S521. In the case where monitoringcontroller 17 determines that the operation is not performed (Step S503:No), the process advances to Step S504.

In Step S504, monitoring controller 17 determines whether the currentoperation mode is the automatic update mode. In the case where thecurrent operation mode is the automatic update mode (Step S504: Yes),the process advances to Step S505. Otherwise (Step S504: No), theprocess advances to Step S511.

In Step S505, monitoring controller 17 obtains the recommendationinformation provided from recommender 15 in Step S104.

In Step S506, monitoring controller 17 determines whether therecommendation information includes information specifying arecommendation target vehicle. In the case where the recommendationinformation includes information specifying a recommendation targetvehicle (S506: Yes), i.e. in the case where recommender 15 determinesthat there is a recommendation target vehicle, the process advances toStep S507. Otherwise (Step S506: No), the process advances to Step S508.

In Step S507, monitoring controller 17 determines the recommendationtarget vehicle recommended in the recommendation information, as amonitoring target vehicle.

In Step S508, monitoring controller 17 determines that there is nomonitoring target vehicle, based on the recommendation information.

In Step S511, monitoring controller 17 determines to maintain thecurrent monitoring target vehicle.

In Step S521, monitoring controller 17 determines the vehicle of theswitching destination of the switching operation by the monitor, as themonitoring target vehicle.

In Step S509, monitoring controller 17 generates monitoring informationindicating the monitoring target, based on the determination in StepS507, S508, S511, or S521. After the process in Step S509, the series ofprocesses in FIG. 15 ends. The monitoring information generated in StepS509 is provided to video manager 18 and used in the process in StepS108.

Although the above describes the case where recommender 15 recommends avehicle as a monitoring target, recommender 15 may further recommend howto monitor the vehicle. For example, “how to monitor the vehicle”includes: monitoring how fast the vehicle is running; and in whichdirection with respect to the vehicle monitoring is performed. In thiscase, the recommendation information includes not only informationspecifying the vehicle, but also information specifying how to monitorthe vehicle. In the case where the monitoring information furtherincludes information specifying a method of monitoring the vehicle,video manager 18 includes, in the presentation information, datacorresponding to the monitoring method from among the image data andsensing data received by communicator 11 from the vehicle, to presentthe information to the monitor. More specifically, in the case ofrecommending, as the vehicle monitoring method, in which direction withrespect to the vehicle monitoring is performed, video manager 18 mayinclude, in the presentation information, an image obtained by a camerain the direction of the monitoring target from among one or more camerasin the vehicle.

Variation of Embodiment

An information processing method, etc. according to a variation will bedescribed below, with reference to FIG. 16 . The structure of amonitoring system according to this variation is the same as that in theembodiment, and accordingly its description omitted.

FIG. 16 is a sequence diagram illustrating a process by monitoringsystem 1 according to this variation. Although vehicles M1 and M2 areused as an example of vehicles etc. in FIG. 16 , the same process isperformed for the other vehicles. FIG. 16 illustrates an example inwhich server device 10 obtains vehicle information and the like fromvehicles M1 and M2. Step S601 to S609 performed by server device 10 arethe same as Steps S101 to S109 in FIG. 12 , and their description isomitted. Steps S621 to S623 performed by vehicle M1 and Steps S624 toS626 performed by vehicle M2 are the same as Steps S121 to S123 in FIG.12 , and their description is omitted. Step S631 performed by displaydevice 30 is the same as Step S131 in FIG. 12 , and its description isomitted. Step S641 performed by input device 20 is the same as Step S141in FIG. 12 , and its description is omitted. In the followingdescription, it is assumed that vehicle M1 is determined as a monitoringtarget from among vehicles M1, etc. in Step S607.

In Step S610, server device 10 transmits communication traffic controlinformation for controlling the communication traffic with a vehicle, tovehicle M2. That is, server device 10 transmits the communicationtraffic control information to vehicle M2 not determined as themonitoring target in Step S606. The communication traffic controlinformation is information for reducing the communication trafficbetween vehicle M2 and server device 10.

The communication traffic between vehicle M2 and server device 10 iscontrolled according to the monitoring priority level. The monitoringpriority level of vehicle M2 is lower than the monitoring priority levelof vehicle M1. Accordingly, server device 10 may generate thecommunication traffic control information so that the communicationtraffic between vehicle M2 and server device 10 will be lower than thecommunication traffic between vehicle M1 and server device 10. Serverdevice 10 may generate the communication traffic control information sothat the communication traffic between vehicle M2 and server device 10will be lower after the determination of the monitoring target thanbefore the determination of the monitoring target.

In the case where vehicle M1 is determined as the monitoring target, thecommunication traffic control information is transmitted to all of theplurality of vehicles M1, etc. other than vehicle (also referred to as“other vehicles”). The communication traffic control informationtransmitted to each of the other vehicles may be determined according tothe monitoring priority level of the vehicle. Control may be performedso that the communication traffic of a vehicle low in monitoringpriority level among the other vehicles will be lower than thecommunication traffic of a vehicle high in monitoring priority levelamong the other vehicles. Thus, while reducing the communication trafficbetween server device 10 and the other vehicles, more information can betransmitted for a vehicle having a high possibility of becoming amonitoring target hereafter from among the other vehicles.Alternatively, server device 10 may uniformly reduce the communicationtraffic of the other vehicles.

In Step S627, vehicle M2 receives the communication traffic controlinformation.

In Step S628, vehicle M2 changes the communication traffic with serverdevice 10 based on the received communication traffic controlinformation. Vehicle M2 may reduce the communication traffic, by atleast one of lowering the image quality of image data transmitted fromvehicle M2, lowering the communication speed of transmitting image data,and lowering the frame rate for capturing image data. In the case wherevehicle M2 includes two or more cameras for capturing the surroundingsof vehicle M2, vehicle M2 may reduce the communication traffic bytransmitting only image data captured by a predetermined camera toserver device 10. The predetermined camera is, for example, a camerathat is determined according to the moving route of vehicle M2 or thelike and captures an image in the traveling direction of vehicle M2.

The process in Step S610 may be performed by any of the structuralelements included in server device 10. For example, monitoringcontroller 17 or video manager 18 may perform the process in Step S610.For example, video manager 18 may transmit the communication trafficcontrol information to vehicle M2 via communicator 11 after transmittingthe presentation information to display device 30.

Other Embodiments

While the presently disclosed techniques have been described by way ofthe foregoing embodiment and variation (hereafter also referred to as“embodiment, etc.”), the present disclosure is not limited to theforegoing embodiment, etc.

For example, although the foregoing embodiment, etc. describe an examplein which a vehicle selected by operation by the monitor is determined asa monitoring target vehicle with priority over a recommendation targetvehicle of the recommender, the present disclosure is not limited tothis. The recommendation target may be determined as a monitoring targetvehicle with priority over the vehicle selected by operation by themonitor. For example, the monitoring controller may preferentiallydetermine the recommendation target vehicle as the monitoring targetvehicle in the case where the monitoring priority level is higher thanor equal to a predetermined value.

In the foregoing embodiment, etc., the recommender may read weightscorresponding to the plurality of items of situation information from atable stored in the travel DB. That is, the travel DB may store a tablein which the accident occurrence rate or the seriousness of an accidentwhich can occur in each item of situation information is associated witha weight.

Although the foregoing embodiment, etc. describe an example in which therecommender determines a vehicle having the highest monitoring prioritylevel or a monitoring priority level higher than or equal to thethreshold as a recommendation target vehicle, the present disclosure isnot limited to this. For example, the recommender may determine avehicle for which predetermined situation information from among theplurality of items of situation information is detected, as arecommendation target vehicle. As an example, a vehicle for which thesituation information “occurrence of accident of own vehicle” isdetected may be determined as a recommendation target vehicle.

In the foregoing embodiment, etc., in the case where there are aplurality of monitors, the recommender may change each priority level orpriority order depending on the state of each monitor. Take “occurrenceof accident of own vehicle” illustrated in FIG. 4 as an example. Supposemonitor A handled “occurrence of accident of own vehicle” more timesthan monitor B in the past. In this case, monitor A can handle“occurrence of accident of own vehicle” more smoothly than monitor B.Hence, the priority level of monitor A for “occurrence of accident ofown vehicle” may be higher than that of monitor B. Thus, in the casewhere there are a plurality of monitors, a monitor capable of smoothlyhandling a situation of situation information of the vehicle can monitorthe vehicle.

In the foregoing embodiment, each priority level in the priority leveltable may be determined, for example, using a machine learning model.The recommender may obtain a priority level for each item of situationinformation output as a result of inputting the obtained vehicleinformation and travel information to the machine learning model asinput data, and determine recommendation information based on theobtained priority level.

In the foregoing embodiment, etc., the vehicle information (firstvehicle information) includes a plurality of types. Each of theplurality of types of vehicle information may be associated with aweight. For example, each of steering angle and speed (an example offirst vehicle information) may be associated with a weight. Themonitoring priority level may then be determined based on the weight.

The method of communication between the devices in the monitoring systemaccording to the foregoing embodiment, etc. is not limited.Communication between the devices may be wireless communication or wirecommunication. Communication between the devices may be a combination ofwireless communication and wire communication.

The processing units (vehicle manager, travel manager, recommender,etc.) in the monitoring system according to the foregoing embodiment,etc. are typically implemented as LSI which is an integrated circuit.These processing units may be individually formed into one chip, or partor all thereof may be included in one chip.

The circuit integration technique is not limited to LSI, and dedicatedcircuits or general-purpose processors may be used to achieve the same.A field programmable gate array (FPGA) which can be programmed aftermanufacturing the LSI, or a reconfigurable processor where circuit cellconnections and settings within the LSI can be reconfigured, may beused.

In the foregoing embodiment, etc., each of the structural elements maybe configured in the form of an exclusive hardware product, or may berealized by executing a software program suitable for the structuralelement. Each of the structural elements may be realized by means of aprogram executing unit, such as a CPU and a processor, reading andexecuting the software program recorded on a recording medium such as ahard disk or semiconductor memory.

The numeric values described above are mere examples to illustrate thepresently disclosed techniques in detail, and the present disclosure isnot limited to such.

The division of the functional blocks in each block diagram is anexample, and a plurality of functional blocks may be realized as onefunctional block, one functional block may be divided into a pluralityof functional blocks, or part of functions may be transferred to anotherfunctional block. Moreover, functions of a plurality of functionalblocks having similar functions may be realized by single hardware orsoftware in parallel or in a time-sharing manner.

Although the foregoing embodiment, etc. describe the case where theserver device is a single device, the server device may be implementedby a plurality of devices connected to each other.

The order in which the steps are performed in each flowchart is anexample provided for specifically describing the presently disclosedtechniques, and order other than the above may be used. Part of thesteps may be performed simultaneously (in parallel) with other steps.

Other modifications obtained by applying various changes conceivable bya person skilled in the art to the foregoing embodiment, etc. and anycombinations of the structural elements and functions in the foregoingembodiment, etc. without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure are also included in the present disclosure.

Although only an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure has beendescribed in detail above, those skilled in the art will readilyappreciate that many modifications are possible in the exemplaryembodiment without materially departing from the novel teachings andadvantages of the precept disclosure. Accordingly, all suchmodifications are intended to be included within the scope of thepresent disclosure.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The presently disclosed techniques can be used for an informationprocessing method whereby a monitor monitors an operated vehicle.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information processing method performed usinga computer, the information processing method comprising: obtainingfirst vehicle information from at least one vehicle that is a monitoringtarget of a remote monitor, the first vehicle information indicating atleast one of a running state and an external state of the at least onevehicle; determining a monitoring priority level of the at least onevehicle according to a degree of request for monitoring the at least onevehicle by the remote monitor, the degree being based on the firstvehicle information; generating presentation information for monitoringthe at least one vehicle, based on the monitoring priority level; andcausing a presentation device to output the presentation information tothe remote monitor, the information processing method further comprises:determining whether an operation mode of the at least one vehicle is anautomatic update mode, and differentiating the presentation informationto be generated according to a determination result, wherein theautomatic update mode is an operation mode in which the presentationinformation is generated based on the monitoring priority level, the atleast one vehicle includes a plurality of vehicles, each of which is themonitoring target of the remote monitor, and the monitoring prioritylevel indicates a degree to which a vehicle is to be preferentiallymonitored as compared with other vehicles among the plurality ofvehicles.
 2. The information processing method according to claim 1,wherein the determining of the monitoring priority level includesdetermining the monitoring priority level based on the degree and aweight that correspond to each of a plurality of items of situationinformation, the plurality of items of situation information eachindicating a situation of the at least one vehicle based on the firstvehicle information.
 3. The information processing method according toclaim 2, wherein the plurality of items of situation information includefirst situation information and second situation information differentfrom the first situation information, and the information processingmethod comprises: determining a weight corresponding to the firstsituation information, according to at least one of the second situationinformation and the first vehicle information.
 4. The informationprocessing method according to claim 2, wherein the presentationinformation includes information indicating a contribution of at leastone of the plurality of items of situation information to determinationof the monitoring priority level.
 5. The information processing methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising: determining the degree basedon position information of the at least one vehicle included in thefirst vehicle information and a travel plan including a moving route ofthe at least one vehicle.
 6. The information processing method accordingto claim 1, wherein the obtaining includes obtaining the first vehicleinformation from each of the plurality of the vehicles, and thepresentation information is information for monitoring a vehiclespecified according to respective monitoring priority levels of theplurality of the vehicles.
 7. The information processing methodaccording to claim 6, wherein the presentation information includesinformation for monitoring a vehicle having a highest monitoringpriority level or a monitoring priority level higher than a thresholdfrom among the plurality of the vehicles.
 8. The information processingmethod according to claim 6, wherein the presentation informationincludes information for presenting first information for monitoring thevehicle specified according to a monitoring priority level thereof fromamong the plurality of the vehicles with more emphasis than secondinformation for monitoring a vehicle other than the vehicle specified.9. The information processing method according to claim 6, wherein thepresentation information includes information for presenting respectiveitems of information for monitoring a plurality of vehicles specified,in order of respective monitoring priority levels of the plurality ofvehicles specified.
 10. The information processing method according toclaim 6, wherein the presentation information includes information forpresenting information indicating the vehicle specified and a monitoringpriority level of the vehicle specified in association with each other.11. The information processing method according to claim 6, wherein thepresentation information includes an image captured by the vehiclespecified or an image showing the vehicle specified.
 12. The informationprocessing method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining,when at least part of the first vehicle information is not obtained, thedegree according to an influence of not obtaining the at least part ofthe first vehicle information on determination of the monitoringpriority level.
 13. The information processing method according to claim12, wherein the determining of the degree includes determining, when theat least part of the first vehicle information is not obtained, thedegree according to the influence of not obtaining the at least part ofthe first vehicle information on the determination of the monitoringpriority level, based on second vehicle information that is obtainedearlier than the first vehicle information and includes the at leastpart.
 14. The information processing method according to claim 13,wherein the determining of the degree includes determining the degreeaccording to the influence, based on an elapsed time from obtainment ofthe second vehicle information.
 15. The information processing methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the obtaining includes obtaining the firstvehicle information through communication with the vehicle, and theinformation processing method further comprises: controllingcommunication traffic of the communication according to the monitoringpriority level.
 16. An information processing system, comprising: anon-transitory memory configured to store a program; and a hardwareprocessor configured to execute the program and control the informationprocessing system to: obtain vehicle information from at least onevehicle that is a monitoring target of a remote monitor, the vehicleinformation indicating at least one of a running state and an externalstate of the at least one vehicle; determine a monitoring priority levelof the at least one vehicle according to a degree of request formonitoring the at least one vehicle by the remote monitor, the degreebeing based on the vehicle information; and generate presentationinformation for monitoring the at least one vehicle based on themonitoring priority level, and cause a presentation device to output thepresentation information to the remote monitor, wherein the hardwareprocessor is further configured to execute the program and control theinformation processing system to: determine whether an operation mode ofthe at least one vehicle is an automatic update mode, anddifferentiating the presentation information to be generated accordingto a determination result, and wherein the automatic update mode is anoperation mode in which the presentation information is generated basedon the monitoring priority level, the at least one vehicle includes aplurality of vehicles, each of which is the monitoring target of theremote monitor, and the monitoring priority level indicates a degree towhich a vehicle is to be preferentially monitored as compared with othervehicles among the plurality of vehicles.
 17. The information processingmethod according to claim 6, wherein the presentation information isinformation for monitoring only a vehicle having a monitoring prioritylevel higher than a threshold from among the plurality of the vehicles.18. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein thedetermining of whether the operation mode of the vehicle is theautomatic update mode is performed only when operation informationindicating an input operation by the remote monitor does not include anoperation for switching a monitoring target.
 19. An informationprocessing method performed using a computer, the information processingmethod comprising: obtaining first vehicle information from a vehiclethat is a monitoring target of a remote monitor, the first vehicleinformation indicating at least one of a running state and an externalstate of the vehicle; determining a monitoring priority level of thevehicle according to a degree of request for monitoring the vehicle bythe remote monitor, the degree being based on the first vehicleinformation; generating presentation information for monitoring thevehicle, based on the monitoring priority level; and causing apresentation device to output the presentation information to the remotemonitor, the information processing method further comprises:determining whether an operation mode of the vehicle is an automaticupdate mode, and differentiating the presentation information to begenerated according to a determination result, wherein the automaticupdate mode is an operation mode in which the presentation informationis generated based on the monitoring priority level, when it isdetermined that the operation mode of the vehicle is the automaticupdate mode, generating the presentation information for the remotemonitor to monitor only one or more vehicles from among the plurality ofthe vehicles, the one or more vehicles being specified based onrespective monitoring priority levels of the plurality of the vehicles,and when it is determined that the operation mode of the vehicle is notthe automatic update mode, generating the presentation information forcontinuing monitoring of one or more vehicles which are being monitoredfrom among the plurality of the vehicles.
 20. The information processingmethod according to claim 19, further comprising: when it is determinedthat the operation mode of the vehicle is not the automatic update mode,presenting information indicating that the one or more vehiclesspecified based on the respective monitoring priority levels are to bepreferentially monitored as compared with other vehicles.